1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to headwear capable of releasably holding accessories through magnetic attraction between the accessories and the headwear.
2. Background Art
Those who play golf regularly use accessories such as ball markers, tees, ball mark repair tools, score keeping pencils, etc. Ideally, certain of these accessories are kept on the person of the golfer to be readily accessible at all times throughout a round of golf.
Commonly, these accessories are kept in the golfers' pockets. While this makes the accessories available, it does not always make them readily accessible. Golfers are often seen fumbling through their pockets to find a ball marker or a pencil which may be difficult to reach in a deep or tight pocket, or intermingled with other objects in a particular pocket.
Storage of accessories in a golfer's pocket has another drawback. Ball mark repair tools, pencils, and ball markers all have sharp points which may represent an irritant as the golfer maneuvers. Any of these accessories could be inadvertently pressed against the user's skin, in the region underlying the pocket, so as to cause significant pain or, in a worst case, injury through penetration of the skin.
Golfers commonly empty their pockets as they begin a round of golf so that their movements are unrestrained and so that they do not contend with the potential distraction of a foreign object in the pocket either producing noise or rubbing against the body during a swing. This has led to the incorporation of accessory holding structure on headwear. Storage of accessories on headwear has the advantage that the accessories remain at all times readily accessible, At the same time, the golfer is not in any way inconvenienced by their presence.
A number of different accessory holding structures have been developed over the years. Cloth loops have been sewn on the exterior of headwear to allow press fitting of accessories. This system may be inconvenient in that the loops generally are custom designed for but a single accessory configuration. Further, the user is often inconvenienced by the process of placing the accessory in the stored state. That is, the user may be forced to hunt for the accessory receptacle and then carefully guide the accessory in a particular orientation into the receptacle. This inconvenience often leads the golfer to remove the headwear piece each time the accessory is placed in the stored state.
It is also known to provide a discrete element on the headwear, which is magnetically attracted to the accessory. While this structure obviates the need to guide the accessory into its stored state, the user is still required to align the magnetically attractive portions on the headwear piece and accessory to place the accessory in the stored state. This operation may have an associated inconvenience sufficient that the user again finds it most efficient to remove the headwear piece to store the accessory.
Ideally, accessories would be placeable in the stored state on headwear with a minimal amount of effort and inconvenience and would be held positively in place yet be readily separable when use of the same is desired.